Champions Cup: Bayonne 13 Leinster 22
Most likely, this didn’t make the earth move back home, and maybe you had to be at the wonderfully atmospheric Stade Jean Dauger to appreciate both the difficulty in trying to beat this proud Basque club at their home fortress and also the sodden conditions caused by the day’s persistent downpour.
As Leo Cullen lamented afterwards, falling behind to such a highly-motivated Bayonne also gave the home team and crowd alike a springboard and a lead to defend.
Bearing that in mind, and how a couple of Leinster tries were ruled out, to ultimately win away at a venue where no French team has done so since April 2024 says plenty about this Leinster team. It was the province’s ninth win in a row and it’s staggering to think they have won 31 consecutive pool matches, topping their pool in four successive seasons.
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“How many teams have won all their games during this period?” asked Leinster head coach Leo Cullen of this block of games. “I don’t think there’s anyone. Teams are dropping at different stages, we’re managing to get wins, so it’s hard to have it every which way.
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“Teams, when they’re playing at home, they’re incredibly passionate. This is a club that means a lot. It’s an incredible atmosphere out there. If you’re a home player or any player coming to play here, there’s a huge responsibility that goes with that, I’m sure.
“I’m only second-guessing, but based on the results, particularly in the Top 14, and even people that I know in France, I’ve been trying to get a gauge as to what is the mentality here.
“Everyone goes: ‘That’s the strongest team that they can pick this week. They’ve gone full-out for you guys. They want to put in a performance. The result doesn’t matter, but they want to put in a performance’. They put in a seriously good performance, which meant it was incredibly tough for our guys,” said Cullen.
“Then there’s also the conditions on top,” he added. “If that’s a knockout game and you come away from here and win the game, you’re delighted. Because there’s other permutations at play, you can get a little bit sidetracked by some of that stuff, potentially as well with trying to score four tries.”
Indeed, maybe it’s the captivating Basque prematch anthem La Peña Baiona, but coupled with the home side’s strong selection and the forecast rain, even before kick-off this felt like an altogether trickier fixture for Leinster than many anticipated. And so it proved.
Such is Leinster’s cache that despite this being a dead rubber for the home side, Bayonne’s players had been asking head coach Gerard Fraser to play the fixture. They were up for it from the start and maintained their ferocity in collisions before finally ebbing a tad in the last 15 minutes.
Leinster didn’t help themselves by leaving two or three tries behind in the first half, but even so they still contrived to look quite blunt, whereas Bayonne were quickly on to the front foot and conjured one first-phase try, exposing a glitch in Leinster’s defence. The visitors were initially indebted to the excellent Jack Boyle for ripping the ball when Bayonne set up a maul in the corner, and their best moments were a couple of counters by Joshua Kenny and Jimmy O’Brien, who looked sharp in an encouraging return from injury.
But Leinster were opened up a mite too easily off a lineout 40 metres out, Manu Tuilagi pulling the ball back for left-winger Yohan Orabe to split the midfield as Garry Ringrose shot up on his outside. Orabe had Sireli Maqala in support on his inside to score under the posts.
Leinster were also unlucky that the greasy ball slipped from Joshua Kenny’s grasp when he was set to score from Harry Byrne’s crosskick, so with Byrne and Joris Segonds – a very assured outhalf with a mighty boot – exchanging penalties, Leinster were left 10-3 adrift at the break.
Clarkson also having had a first-half finish ruled out for a double movement it was beginning to look as if their luck really was out when Jimmy O’Brien had a try ruled out on review when knocking on just before grounding the ball after a sumptuous grubber by Sam Prendergast.
But they made the sinbinning of Herschel Jantjies count with a lovely strike play of their own off a lineout when the arrival Joe McCarthy added some heft to James Ryan’s take. Ringrose was the first receiver before Byrne pulled the ball back for Kenny to make the incision and Prendergast passed long for Jimmy O’Brien to dance infield, Dan Sheehan then taking a superb line for the finish.
Segonds’ 50-metre penalty restored Bayonne’s lead but he was just awry with another in the 69th minute before Leinster finally went in front for the first time five minutes later. After more huffing and puffing, Byrne gambled on a well weighted chip, the bounce beating Victor Hannoun for Prendergast to gather stealthily and score under the posts.
A bonus point flickered into view in the 80th minute after Sheehan charged at the line from a Bayonne over throw and Max Deegan finished in the corner from Jamison Gibson-Park’s pass. But after Byrne missed a hurried drop kick conversion, Segonds kicked the restart out on the full, bringing the game to an end.
“I’m not sure did they kick the ball out on purpose there at the end,” said Cullen. “But we never got a crack. We would have loved another crack to try and score four tries, but unfortunately that’s not the way the game played out.
“When you turn up away from home and that’s the way the conditions are, you just need to do what you need to do to get the job done, so credit to the players for doing that.”
SCORING SEQUENCE – 14: Maqala try, Segonds con 7-0; 20: Byrne pen 7-3; 23: Segonds pen 10-3; Half-time 10-3; 55: Sheehan try, Byrne con 10-10; 59: Segonds pen 13-10; 73: Prendergast try, Byrne con 13-17; 79: Deegan try 13-22
BAYONNE: J Tiberghien; T Spring, S Maqala, M Tuilagi, Y Orabe; J Segonds, H Jantjies; I Calles, L Martin, L Tagi; E Johnson, L Paulos; A Fischer, A Iturria, N Lomidze.
Replacements: B Heguy for Iturria (46 mins), G Martocq for Tuilagi (49), F Bosch for Martin, E Setiano for Tagi (both 51), M Ariceta for Lomidze (52), E Tumania for Calles (57).
Yellow card: Jantjies (49 mins).
LEINSTER: J O’Brien; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Kenny; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; J Boyle, R Kelleher, T Furlong; RG Snyman, J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt).
Replacements: J McCarthy for Furlong (16 mins), R Ioane for Henshaw (34), S Prendergast for T O’Brien (40), D Sheehan for Kelleher (46), RG Snyman for McCarthy (55), L McGrath for J O’Brien (66), J Cahir for Boyle (70), S Penny for van der Flier (74).
Referee: L Pearce (ENG).
